This is an excerpt of a homily given by Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, during his parish visit at Holy Rosary Cathedral Jan. 26. More information about parish visits available here.


Sunday of the Word of God

Last year, Pope Francis declared that the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time should be devoted to the word of God, so that the Church can come to appreciate the great treasury of the Word of God in Sacred Scripture and to encourage us to proclaim its unfathomable riches to the world. 

This Sunday of the Word of God takes place around or during the time when we are praying for the unity of all Christians. We know that the Sacred Scriptures are a point of agreement among us.

As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote, in Verbum Domini, “We find ourselves before the mystery of God, who has made himself known through the gift of his word. This word, which abides for ever, entered into time. God spoke his eternal Word humanly; his Word ‘became flesh’ (Jn 1:14). This is the good news. This is the proclamation which has come down the centuries to us today.”

God’s word is thus spoken throughout the history of salvation, and most fully in the mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God. Then too, the word of God is that word preached by the Apostles in obedience to the command of the Risen Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). 

The word of God is thus handed on in the Church’s living Tradition. Finally, the word of God, attested and divinely inspired, is sacred Scripture, the Old and New Testaments. All this helps us to see that, while in the Church we greatly venerate the sacred Scriptures, the Christian faith is not a “religion of the book”: Christianity, wrote Benedict, is the “religion of the word of God,” not of “a written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word.”

Treasure the Word. Learn to love the Scriptures and get to know the Lord better through study. Listen attentively when it is proclaimed. 

The Church lives from the Word of God and the Sacraments. That’s why the Mass has two Tables: the Table of the Word and of the Eucharist. Both are always linked.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us make room inside ourselves for the word of God. Each day, let us read a verse or two of the Bible. Let us begin with the Gospel: carry it in our pocket or bag, read it on our cell phones, and allow it to inspire us daily. We will discover that God is close to us.